Method and device to have a wipe cloth with ice-cream

ABSTRACT

An ice cream stick or an ices stick made hollow with a napkin or a damp wipe cloth inside the hollow. Access to the napkin or cloth is by snapping off the end of the ice stick. Alternatively the napkin or cloth can be either in a sealed plastic bag that is stuck on the side of a conventional ice stick or the napkin or cloth is wrapped around the ice stick with the plastic sealed around it. A further embodiment has a cone shaped protector from ice-cream drips.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

This invention is in the field of accessories to the ice-cream industryand in particular a method to have a dry napkin or moist wipe clothaccessible to the consumer of an ice-cream or ices using the ices stickto contain the napkin or cloth, or having the cloth in a separateplastic sleeve that is attached to the ice-cream stick.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Ice-creams and ices are often eaten by children who frequently need tohave their hands and face wiped during and after consuming theice-cream. This is a more acute problem with children because they takelonger than adults to finish the ice-cream, which begins to melt after ashort time out of the freezer. The phenomenon is more noticeable on ahot day than a cool one and it is on hot days that there is more of adesire to eat ice-creams and they melt faster. The ice-cream is ofteneaten in a car, on a bus or walking along. Usually, in thesecircumstances there is a lack of facilities to clean ones hands and/ormouth adequately after eating.

Prior art, registered in WIPO number WO/1999/046999 issued to Brown,reveals an ice-cream stick that also serves as a container for a napkin.However, the method of access to napkin in the said container is byopening a sliding door in the container. This makes the stick bulky andincreases the expense of the item by a relatively large amount.

This invention comes to alleviate this problem by attaching a dry or amoist wipe to ice-cream and ices' sticks or by making the stick a hollowplastic tube with the wipe inside. The nature of the said plastic in thelatter embodiment is firm enough to hold the weight of the ice-cream andbrittle enough to be broken at its base to gain access to the napkin ormoist wipe cloth inside.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

It is to be understood that both the foregoing general description andthe following detailed description present embodiments of the invention,and are intended to provide an overview, or framework, for understandingthe nature and character of the invention as it is claimed. Theaccompanying drawings are included to provide a further understanding ofthe invention, and are incorporated into and constitute a part of thisspecification. The drawings illustrate various embodiments of theinvention and, together with the description serve to explain theprinciples and operations of the invention.

Moist wipe clothes are well known and widely used to-day for hygienicand other uses. They usually are contained in a semi-airtight package topreserve the moisture as long as possible. The presence of moistureassists with the cleaning process.

The purpose of this invention is for the container of the wipe cloth toalso act as the stick for the ice-cream. Alternatively, the wipe clothcontainer could be a thin nylon sealed bag attached to the stick of anice-cream or the stick of ices in such a way that it is convenientlydetachable from the stick when required for use.

The basic principle can be applied in various ways, some of which aredescribed herein.

Another way of opening the wipe container is by snapping off its baseend. This method of opening would be the likely situation where thestick for the ice-cream is also the container for the wipe, whethermoist or not. The stick would need to be made of a firm substance like,plastic. Plastic has the advantage of being easy to mass produce, notcostly, capable of being made hollow, capable of being made air-tightwhere required, can be made to be firm enough to hold the ice-cream andbrittle enough to snap open at the lower end to extract the wipe clothstored in the hollow.

In another embodiment the moist wipe cloth is sealed in an airtightplastic bag in order to preserve the moisture therein. The dampness onthe wipe cloth could be water or a light soap solution or othercleansing substances suitable for use on the hands and face of adultsand children. In the case of a dry wipe cloth the said seal would notneed to be airtight.

This bag could be made as close as possible to the size of the cloth tosave space and could be made with a semi-perforation or other method toease opening the bag by for example simply pulling a tab with one hand.This opening procedure is achievable by children so that they can openand use the wipe by themselves.

The said bag containing the moist wipe could be attached to theice-cream stick by various means, for example, by wrapping the bagaround the stick, or by attaching the bag to one side of the stick or atone end of the stick. Another alternative could be to combine the bagand its moist wipe with a cone shaped hand protector. This could beattached to the lower end of the ice-cream stick and opened when theice-cream is consumed. This embodiment of this invention could beprimarily for children's use. The moist wipe bag could be openedindependently from the hand protecting cone.

In the embodiment where the said plastic bag or sleeve containing thewipe is made of a firmer plastic whereby that sleeve, probably tubularshaped, would double as the stick for the ice-cream, the cone shapedhand protector could be attached to the tubular ice-cream stick. Thewipe cloth would be inside the said tube.

The shape “cone” is not essential and any other suitable shape could beused.

In the embodiment where the stick is tubular with the wipe cloth insidethe tube, the “tubular” shape is not essential and any other suitableshape could be used.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated in and form a part ofthis specification, illustrate embodiments of the invention and,together with the description, serve to explain, by way of example only,the principles of the invention:

FIG. 1 is a drawing of the tubular ice-cream stick that contains thewipe cloth inside the tube.

FIG. 2 is a drawing of the ice-cream stick with the wipe-cloth bagattached to one side.

FIG. 3 is a drawing of the ice-cream stick with the wipe-cloth wrappedaround the stick.

FIGS. 3A and 3B are cross sections of the drawing in FIG. 3.

FIG. 4 is a drawing of the ice-cream stick with the wipe-cloth bagattached, in a horizontal direction, to the stick.

FIG. 5 is a drawing of the ice-cream stick and a hand protector coneattached to the stick.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

As will be appreciated the present invention is capable of other anddifferent embodiments than those discussed above and described in moredetail below, and its several details are capable of modifications invarious aspects, all without departing from the spirit of the invention.

Accordingly, the drawings and description of the embodiments set forthbelow are to be regarded as illustrative in nature and not restrictive.

FIG. 1 shows a plastic tubular or hollow container 100. Inside is amoist wipe cloth. The position for opening the tube 100 is marked 102whereby, in the case where the substance of the said tube is brittleplastic or a similar such substance, the end piece would be snapped offat this point 102, revealing the moist or dry wipe cloth inside, whichwould then be easily accessible by pulling it out. Alternatively, theopening procedure could be by pulling a tab across the indentation 102.

In the embodiment of this invention where the said container is in theshape of a tubular or hollow sleeve, the container would also act as thestick for the ice-cream. FIG. 2 shows an ice-cream 120 on a stick 122.The bag 100 containing the moist wipe cloth is wrapped around the stick122 or attached to the side of the stick 122 by means of glue or othersuitable means. This attachment is sufficient to hold the bag 100 on thestick 122 when the tab 104 is pulled to open the bag 100 on theindentation 102. The attachment of bag 100 can be made to detach fromthe stick 122 when the bag 100 is pulled with reasonable force, forthose who wish to hold the bag 100 separate from the stick 122.

FIG. 3 shows another embodiment of this invention where the moist wipecloth is wrapped around the stick 122 or folded against one side of thestick 122 and the plastic covering 132 is sealed over the cloth thereinand around the stick 122.

FIG. 3A shows the cross sectional view of the stick 122 and the wipecloth 130 wrapped around the stick 122 with the plastic cover 132 sealedaround the cloth 130.

FIG. 3B shows the cross sectional view of the stick 122 and a moist wipecloth 130 folded against one side of the stick 122 with the plasticcover 132 sealed around the cloth 130 and the stick 122.

FIG. 4 shows an ice-cream stick 122 with the bag 124 containing themoist wipe cloth compacted in a horizontal ring around the stick 122.This embodiment causes less interference with the hand holding the stick122, although the bag 124 will protrude more than the bags shown inFIGS. 2 and 3. In this embodiment the opening tab 126 would be pulled ina horizontal direction to tear open the bag 124 and reveal the wipetherein.

FIG. 5 shows an embodiment of this invention whereby the moist or drywipe cloth in or on the ice-cream stick is combined with a handprotecting cone 150, that would be folded when in storage and could beopened out when beginning to eat the ice-cream.

The purpose of the cone 150 is to protect the hand of the consumer ofthe ice-cream from drips of melted ice-cream. This usually occurs on hotdays when the consumer does not eat the ice-cream fast enough. This willnormally apply to children.

The ice-cream 120 is attached to the top end of the stick 140. At thelower end of the stick 140 is the cone attachment. The cone 150 could bemade of paper or plastic and is folded neatly against the stick 140,when in storage. When the cone is required to be opened to protect thehand of the consumer, it is unfolded to its cone-shape. There is stillease of access to the end of the stick 140 which in one embodiment ofthis invention is a tubular plastic stick, and needs to be snapped offat its end in order to have access to the wipe cloth that is situatedinside the tubular stick 140.

Another embodiment of this invention is where the bag 124 containing amoist or dry wipe cloth is attached to the stick 140. The bag 124 isopened by pulling the tab 126 along the indented line 128. The cone 150which is initially folded on the stick 140 is opened to a cone shapethat enables the hand to grip the stick 140 while being protected fromdripping ice-cream.

There could be an up-curved rim 152 circumventing the base circumferenceof the cone 150 which could catch excess drips from falling on theconsumer's arm or sleeve.

What is claimed:
 1. A method and device to insert a wiping cloth in anice-cream stick comprising; a plastic container for the said wipe-clothand also for an ice-cream stick, a cloth stored inside the said plasticcontainer, whereby the consumer of the said ice-cream can break open thesaid plastic container in order to take out the said cloth.
 2. A methodand device as claimed in claim 1 wherein the said plastic container istube shaped.
 3. A method and device as claimed in claim 2 wherein thesaid container is brittle, at least at its base end, so that it may besnapped off to gain access to the said wiping cloth.
 4. A method anddevice as claimed in claim 1 wherein the said cloth is moistened withwater.
 5. A method and device as claimed in claim 1 wherein the saidcloth is moistened with a cleansing substance.
 6. A method and device asclaimed in claim 1 wherein the said plastic wrapping is sealed airtight.7. A method and device as claimed in claim 1 wherein there is anindentation in the said container that does not pierce the said plasticcontainer in order to maintain the said airtight seal and to facilitateopening the said container.
 8. A method and device as claimed in claim 1wherein the said cloth is made of paper.
 9. A method and device to addto an ice-cream stick a wiping cloth comprising; a plastic bag whereinthe said cloth is folded against the said stick with the wrapping beingsealed over the said cloth and onto the said stick.
 10. A method anddevice as claimed in claim 9 wherein the said cloth is wrapped aroundthe said stick with the said wrapping being sealed over the said clothand onto the said stick.
 11. A method and device as claimed in claim 9wherein the said cloth is sealed inside the plastic wrapping and thesaid wrapping is attached to the said stick.
 12. A method and device toadd to an ice-cream stick a cloth and a drip protector comprising; aplastic wrapping, a cloth stored inside the said plastic wrapping, anindentation in the said plastic wrapping to ease opening the saidwrapping, a drip protector attached to the said stick, whereby theconsumer of the said ice-cream can tear open the said plastic wrappingand take out the said cloth and have his hand and sleeve protected fromdrips from the said ice-cream.
 13. A method and device as claimed inclaim 12 wherein the said drip protector is folded against the saidstick when in storage and expands to a cone-like shape when opened. 14.A method and device as claimed in claim 12 wherein the said dripprotector has around its lower rim a lip to collect liquids.